The school holidays are long, and every single day I’m trying to work out how to wear my kid out. Today I want to recommend a real treasure of a climbing gym, Climb N’ Play in Maidstone.
Personally, I think this is one of the best in all of Melbourne. There are very few people there, but everything is covered. It’s an indoor playground and rock climbing together.
Entry is $32.50, which covers the kids’ playground for the whole day plus one hour of rock climbing. Adults don’t pay entry, and there’s no forced spending of any kind, which I thought was decent. If an adult wants to climb as well, or your child wants another hour, it’s $21 an hour.
That day my daughter played from 11am until 4pm, and she did two climbing sessions. I sat nearby with my laptop and worked. It’s quiet, not nearly as loud as other venues, and it’s very clean.
The climbing walls are built like a little city
The climbing area has a city and construction theme. One wall is a tall black panel with a red chevron pattern and small red holds scattered up it. Next to it is a grey building facade with painted windows and brightly coloured ladders in green, yellow and red leaning on it. A yellow crane-style tower leads to a padded platform at the top, with a safety gate and a rope ladder with wooden rungs beside it. In my first photo my daughter is up on that platform, clipped into her harness.
Another climb is a skyline of black padded skyscrapers of different heights, covered in glowing yellow windows, so they look like a city at night. In my second photo she’s standing on top of one of them, clipped to a yellow line that comes down from the ceiling. Behind them is a graffiti-style wall with big “UP” lettering, and a mural of a squirrel and a tree on the black wall. The whole thing sits in a huge warehouse with skylights and steel beams.
The staff are great
The thing I most want to praise is the staff in the climbing area. I think the whole venue’s staff are good, but these two were excellent. They were incredibly patient, they noticed everything, and they helped every child properly. They kept praising and encouraging my daughter the entire time.
When she was four, she went to a similar climbing gym, and she was scared and there weren’t many people to help her. This time she’s a bit older, and the encouragement from these two staff made a big difference. She bravely tried every wall and every challenge.
Adults stay outside, and it’s more orderly
At the earlier gym, adults could go inside and everyone was mixed together, adults and kids. Here the adults all stay outside, and only the children go in, and it’s noticeably more orderly. One important point: the climbing area is only for kids aged five and over.
What else is worth knowing
Climb N’ Play Maidstone was previously known as Funtopia, and it sits a few minutes’ drive from Highpoint Shopping Centre, with free parking on site. The old Funtopia listing gave the address as 98 Hampstead Road, Maidstone 3012.
The climbing area, called Nutty Heights, has 40 climbing walls from beginner to advanced, with an auto-belay system so kids don’t need a rope partner, and it’s open to children aged five and over. That matches the squirrel on the wall in my photo. The separate playground, Acorn Adventure, is for children over 12 months, and a soft play area called Tiny Tails is for under-twos.
Would we go back?
Yes. Overall this is an excellent place to take your kids, and I highly recommend it. If you’re stuck for ideas through the break, check the Victorian school holiday dates first, and our SEA LIFE Melbourne Animal Crossing review and Metro Tunnel Passport Challenge are two more ways to fill a school-holiday day. There are more in our events section.